Grandma & Grandpa in Texas

It was so much fun having my grandma & Steve visit.

I'm feeling familiar enough with Texas now that I can 
actually be somewhat decent of a tour guide now when family comes.

Grandma gets a little grumpy when you point the camera in
 her direction, but you can't blame a girl for trying!
Enjoy some stories of their visit through pictures....

Grandma convinced Lyla that monsters live in the attic.
This game went on for the entire duration of their visit. 

We enjoyed a BBQ at Steve's sisters house one evening.
She lives only about ten miles south of us!
It's funny how the phrase "it's a small world" has been said 
way more times than I expected since living in Texas.

Max got a little feisty on the way there and grandma 
climbed into the backseat to help soothe him.
I can't even remember if she was successful or not, 
because I was laughing too hard after she spilled 
an entire container of puffs and got her foot stuck in the door.

We went to an arcade style driving range.
It was really cool and I want to go back someday without  the children. Ha!
Max stabbed a french fry with a fork all by himself and
 he seemed very proud of himself.

We ditched Steve for an afternoon and did lots of shopping.
Baby Gap + Generous Grandma = Spoiled Grandchildren
I love this picture because it looks like Lyla & Max are
 having a really in depth conversation.

We visited the Houston Museum of Natural Science.
It was verrrry neat. It would have been possible to spend an entire day there.
Lyla especially enjoyed the butterfly exhibit where hundreds 
of butterflies fly freely all around you.

I'm unsure how this idea even started but my grandma and Lyla

talked about having a "pretend" birthday party all week.

Finally, on Thursday night they had their celebration.

Grandma and Lyla couldn't agree on the cake to buy.

They ended up getting a giant cookie covered in pink and green frosting.

I will give you one chance to guess who won that battle?

If you know my grandma, you know she loves telling stories. Repeatedly, I might add. 
I can slowly see the "Kaili & Jake" stories getting replaced with "Lyla & Max" stories.
That's just fine. The love my grandma has for her great-grandkids is adorable.
She is the best grandma out there & I'm happy I get to share her with my babies.

It looks like this summer our schedule is packed with even more visitors.

It gives me something to look forward to & I can't wait for my mom to get here in May!

Old Town Spring & Maxwell the Menace

My grandparents are visiting Texas this week and today we ventured to Old Town Spring.  Side note: I'm slightly upset I have lived here for 1.5 years and nobody has taken me to this wonderful place!

Anywho! Upon arrival, Max resisted sitting in the stroller. I only mention this small piece of information because I think it's what first started his meltdown. The first store we checked out was full of different stones and crystals. I've read about the healing properties amber can have on teething babies. As I was looking for some amber, Max reached his hand in another container of stones and tossed one in his mouth. I fished it out and, as expected, he got mad at me. This was not an unusual reaction to not getting his way. 

The weird part was that he would not let it go. He became even more mad as I attempted to distract him with something else. It got to the point that I had to take him outside the store, where his anger level continued to rise. He was screaming in such an unfamiliar way, I literally thought he was in pain. I could barely keep him in my  arms because of the way he was lunging his body into the open air. I was getting a little worried something more serious might be happening, so we all went back to the car. My motherly instinct is typically spot on and it's an uneasy feeling when you can't figure out why your baby is crying---it's not something I experience often. 

I stripped Max down, took off his diaper and examined him for anything that might be causing discomfort. I thought maybe he bit off a chunk of the rock and it was sharp. I wondered if he swallowed the rock chunk and it was now stabbing his insides. I thought somehow the rock he tasted was naturally spicy or perhaps numbing his mouth. I come up with weird ideas sometimes. I know this. Anyway, I couldn't find any externally physical reason that could possibly be making him so upset. 

By this time my grandparents were searching Google for an urgent care clinic. I'm not kidding. I gave Max a boob snack [aka nursed him] for a few minutes and my grandma wiped him down with a damp towel. Then suddenly everything was fine. He was crawling around my front seat, making cave man noises as if nothing had happened. 

We concluded this was Max's first tantrum, or as my grandma put it, he's tired of being "Mr. Nice Guy." It was completely ridiculous behavior from a ten month old. I'm really hoping this was a fluke and Max wasn't giving a preview of what he has in store for the future. For the rest of the afternoon he had a smug look on his face and his attitude suggested he was quite pleased with himself. 

We stopped for lunch and Max kept tossing pieces of bread off the table. As he did this, he would throw his head down on his arms and laugh hysterically. I think he was testing his limits. I am telling you, it was all very strange & very naughty behavior!

There is something about places like Old Town Spring that I really love. I love the sense of old town community. I love the historical buildings. I love the quaint little boutiques with hand made items. I think in another universe somewhere there is version of me living in an old ghost town with a little gypsy shop full of crystals and magic potions.  I would read auras and do energy readings. I wouldn't have to deal with children having episodes of psychosis  like I did today. ;-)

Ahw, yes. That sounds like a nice place to live.

Easter 2014

Easter was fantastic! 

We colored eggs.
We smashed two dozen confetti eggs. [my favorite]
The Easter bunny visited & left a basketball hoop for Lyla.
 We searched for eggs with The Stout family.
and finally, we enjoyed a yummy lunch prepared by the wonderful Charli.

Someone was wore out after all the fun!
That does not look comfortable. HA.

Germs are Yucky

My Lyla baby has been sick.

Between Olivia & Google we came up with a diagnosis of "Hand Foot & Mouth Disease" 

 and  I learned there isn't anything they can prescribe to treat it. 

You simply have to increase snuggle time by 20% and  wait it out.

 However, since this was a virus I had never heard of before, 

I took her to the doctor just to be sure there wasn't something I was missing.
After going ballistic at her 24 month check up, I was a little worried about how she
 would handle another visit to the doctor, but she was adorable and so polite. 
She let him do the examine with no trouble and even answered all his questions.
 I was shocked, to be honest.

The symptoms are similar to the flu, plus blister-like sores appear on the feet, 

hands, mouth, and bum. It was sad seeing her so lethargic. 

It is definitely not her style to lay in bed all day. 

Luckily Max dodged the illness and Lyla 

finally seemed herself again  just in time for Easter festivities.

Bluebonnets & Mushy Talk

There was a time I felt guilty for making Lyla become a big sister after only 17 months. 

I was grateful for a second pregnancy. I was excited to be growing a healthy baby boy.

 I just felt like Lyla deserved more time to be the first and only child. 

I wanted her to enjoy her mom and dad a little while longer 

while they still belonged 100% to her.

I know a majority of people are born already having siblings and

 aren't damaged from not experiencing the spotlight of being the first child, 

but I still felt bad about it nonetheless. Sometimes you just can't help how you feel.

Fast forward to now and I'm so happy Lyla has Max 

to share these early childhood moments with. 

Maxwell's social skills are developing rapidly and

 it really is the best thing ever watching their bond grow.
It's beginning to show how much Max really admires his big sister.

Every night before bed I always ask Lyla, "what do you want to do tomorrow?" 

Nine times out of ten her answer is simply, "play." 

I have always loved her response and thought for 

a two year old girl, she really has her priorities straight. 

The last couple weeks she has slightly altered her response. 

Now when I ask, "what do you want to do tomorrow?" 

the answer is "play with Max." I love it even more!

Bath Time & Hugs

Max is such a lover. If he started charging a quarter for every hug & kiss he gives out in a day then he would be one wealthy ten month old! The other night he gave a hug to the bathtub. I don't know if his original intention was to give a "hug" but he sure did enjoy the attention he received from it. 

This is Lyla's picture of giving the bath a hug. She has started this new habit of copying Max anytime he does something that gets an "awww" reaction. She gets her fair share of individual the praise & recognition, but sharing with a little brother can be a little difficult at times. I can definitely relate to that one. 

PS. I changed the formatting of my blog paragraphs. I liked the "poem" style text. Then I realized it only looked nice and pretty on an actual computer screen.  Thanks to NOBODY for telling me it looked idiotic on mobile devices.